Metal Gear Mechs
Metal Gear was the designation to various models of bipedal tanks. Metal Gear were behemoth machines capable of decimating lesser machines. Metal Gear had the distinction of being nuclear capable, firing warheads from their rail gun, eliminating the need for a missile, or launchpad allowing them to attack targets from anywhere in the world, on any kind of terrain. This peaked with Metal Gear REX which was sophisticated enough to launch a nuke and hit a target from anywhere in the world. REX also had the distinction of being completely untraceable. Description The general definition of a Metal Gear prior to the collapse of the war economy was a mobile nuclear launch platform similar in purpose to ballistic missile submarines. However, its precise definition was debatable, as many other weapons had been designed to fill a similar role, or had used the same technology. The individual units had varied greatly in appearance and size, but their purpose had always been the same—to destabilize the global balance of power via the threat of covert long-range nuclear attack. The term "Metal Gear" was coined by Soviet weapons scientist Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin to describe to Naked Snake in 1964 the "missing link" between infantry and artillery: infantry could roam the battlefield at will, but were both vulnerable and lacking in firepower; artillery could inflict immense damage upon an opponent while resisting similar damage, but was at the mercy of the terrain. Granin envisioned a tank with legs, enabling it to quickly traverse the battlefield, inflicting and repelling damage on a scale never before seen. Following an encounter with a Gekko in 2014, Otacon explained to Old Snake that what made a "Metal Gear" was specifically its nuclear launch capability. Considering Granin's original coinage of the term, it could be therefore assumed that a Metal Gear could be defined as a bipedal nuclear weapon. Not only did this negate the Gekkos and the Mk. II/Mk. III from being true Metal Gears, but it also discounted Metal Gear RAY. Otacon noted that RAY was an exception to the definition, as it was overall created under the premise of nuclear strategy (it targeting nuclear warhead-equipped Metal Gears). After the end of the war economy era, the classification was redefined to simply mean any mech that exceeded the size of unmanned gear walkers such as Gekko. Furthermore, possessing nuclear weaponry was no longer required to being labeled as such due to the concept of deterrence being outdated by the rise in cyborg technology. History The Metal Gear concept was first conceived by the Soviet Russian weapons researcher Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin as a way to connect infantry with artillery, making it invulnerable to firepower shortages and terrain. However, his concept was looked down upon and turned down by the Khrushchev regime, and the Volgin faction of GRU later turned him down after his attempt at making it for them failed to produce results sufficient enough for them to use effectively. He also supplied information about Metal Gear to his American colleague, Huey Emmerich, who then used his concept for his own. Shortly before his death, Granin planned to send Emmerich all his research. However, it was intercepted by the Philosophers' triple agent Ocelot, and instead sent to the CIA Director as a future weapon for America. In 1970, the American government hired Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov to help develop an ICBM based version of the Metal Gear concept, in addition to a prototype version. These weapons were later stolen by the FOX Unit, under CIA orders, and brought to the San Hieronymo Peninsula. The prototype, Metal Gear RAXA, was later destroyed by Naked Snake and his resistance (although due to misinformation, they were initially led to believe that it was the actual model). The ICBM-based model, the ICBMG, was later used in an attempt to make a nuclear strike against America by Gene (acting against Pentagon orders to use it against Russia), but was ultimately destroyed by Snake and his resistance movement. CIA contacts of the former CIA Director, Hot Coldman, also managed to procure the Metal Gear documents and send them to his employer. Coldman, with the documents he received, then recruited Huey Emmerich to design the various AI weapons, as well as the frame and weapons system for Peace Walker, while leading him to believe that it would not be fired even once. It was then used in various tests in Central America, until Huey defected upon learning that Coldman planned to launch a live nuke from Peace Walker. The various AI weapons were later destroyed by Big Boss's Militaires Sans Frontières, and Peace Walker eventually ended up sacrificing itself to stop the transmission of false data to NORAD. Later, Huey and Strangelove were commissioned by the MSF to help build their own Metal Gear, codenamed ZEKE. However, it was hijacked by a spy for Cipher, who was behind most of the Peace Walker Incident, and ended up heavily damaged. The United States in the meantime abandoned the idea of Metal Gear being a true revolutionary weapon for the time being. However, the concept was not completely abandoned, and by 1984 small non-nuclear armed bipedal units called Walker Gear were seen in the use of Diamond Dogs and other small PFs of the time. Additionally, Huey Emmerich assisted in the creation of Battle Gear, a non-nuclear levitating tank with few similarities to traditional Metal Gear, as a peace offering to Diamond Dogs. The Soviet Union and XOF also collaborated with Huey and produced the ST-84 Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, the first and only Metal Gear to ever walk completely upright like a human. Also unlike previous iterations, Sahelanthropus possessed nuclear self-destruction capabilities. Sahelanthropus was rendered inoperable in a battle against Diamond Dogs and extracted to Mother Base as a trophy, where Huey secretly repaired it and Eli later stole it. When Diamond Dogs later battled against Eli as he piloted Sahelanthropus, the Metal Gear's body was destroyed beyond repair and its remains were airlifted to an unknown destination by Diamond Dogs choppers. Eventually during the 1990s, the mercenary nation of Outer Heaven developed the TX-55 Metal Gear with forced help from robotics expert Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar. It was later destroyed by Solid Snake during Operation Intrude N313, although Madnar, despite earlier being against its creation, later praised it as his life's work. Afterwards, Madnar also attempted to create a Metal Gear for America, but the American government did not agree to it, and was later ostracized and shunned by the scientific community for it. Because of this, Madnar willingly cooperated with Zanzibar Land in creating the revised Metal Gear D and the intended mass production of both Metal Gear D and Metal Gear G. Metal Gear D was later used to raid various nuclear storage sites around the world, until it was destroyed by Solid Snake in Operation Intrude F014. In addition, in May 1996, due to the suicide of Admiral Boorda, a new Metal Gear model proposed by ArmsTech was allowed into the Pentagon's Black Budget. Meanwhile, Metal Gear REX ended up becoming a black project co-developed by DARPA and ArmsTech to combat a global trend in military downsizing. In 2005, during a field exercise of REX's capabilities, Metal Gear REX was hijacked by a terrorist group called the Sons of Big Boss on the Shadow Moses Island nuclear disposal facility. It was later destroyed by Solid Snake, although not before the latter had unwittingly activated it due to misinformation. Despite its destruction, various derivatives were created due to Revolver Ocelot leaking the REX data to unstable regions of the world, leading to the creation of the anti-Metal Gear NGO Philanthropy. In addition, due to this as well as partially the revelation of the Army's involvement in REX, Metal Gear RAY also developed by the Marinesas an anti-Metal Gear, and a cyber-warfare based Metal Gear named Arsenal Gear was developed by the Navy, leading to a rivalry between the two that was later exploited by the Patriots to create an incident to steal Metal Gear RAY for Arsenal Gear for their S3 Plan, as well as framing Philanthropy. As the war economy defined the world by 2014, Otacon developed Metal Gear Mk. II. The Mk. II is a remote mobile terminal designed for stealth scouting and communication rather than combat. Regular Metal Gears still saw use, but were largely eclipsed by pseudo-Metal Gear walkers called Gekko. By 2018, a new subclass of weapon was unleashed known as Unmanned Gears or UGs, which included a redesigned version of Metal Gear RAY with a simple AI of its very own. Because of advancement of biomechanical parts, artificial muscle systems such as organic polymers or cultivated muscle fibers were rendered obsolete and replaced with CNTs. Consequentially, it also resulted in the UGs allowing for even more weapons systems than before, as the replacement of the artificial muscle systems with CNTs and the more space in the frame by consequence allowed for it. They ran in direct competition with cyborgs, with the latter being generally advantageous, although UGs were becoming more advanced in rapid time. Besides the modified RAY, another Metal Gear was also developed around this time, called EXCELSUS. AT Corp designed EXCELSUS in a way that the large mech could overwhelm cyborgs with sheer firepower and trample urban areas that would otherwise cause problems for the Gekko units. However, EXCELSUS was never equipped with any nuclear weaponry, and its "Metal Gear" title was only a marketing tactic. Metal Gears Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear The Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear (ICBMG) was developed for the Central Intelligence Agency by Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov in the 1970s. Sokolov was heavily influenced by Granin's designs when creating this Metal Gear. The idea for this version of Metal Gear was to use a large rocket to launch the actual Metal Gear unit itself into near-orbit before releasing it, allowing it to parachute back down to the target location where it would then launch its payload of nuclear weapons. The ICBMG's nuclear function was to act as a mobile launching device for MIRVs. While therefore capable of making nuclear strikes against several targets at once, its range was limited, and unlike the Shagohod, was unable to compensate for it with speed. Thus, Metal Gear had to be physically transported to a point within range of the target(s) first. This was accomplished by having the Metal Gear unit itself attached to the top of a rocket, launching it, detaching the unit at 3000 ft (914m) above the intended landing point, and having it parachute back down to the ground, launching its nuclear payload afterwards. It could be airlifted from one location to another by at least three choppers Metal Gear RAXA Metal Gear RAXA, pronounced "rasha" (/ræʃæ/), was a prototype of the ICBMG created in 1970. Although considered to be the first Metal Gear, neither RAXA nor the ICBMG truly lived up to Granin's original vision of a bipedal walking tank. RAXA was the first Metal Gear prototype ever built, having been developed by the U.S. Government in 1970. It was completed by Sokolov, based on blueprints created by Granin, and acted as a test model for the ICBMG. RAXA's head bore a strong resemblance to the original design, though it possessed only four legs, which was merely a step towards bipedalism. In addition, it utilized a sophisticated rocket propulsion system for hovering above the ground, and could make a swift landing, destroying everything in its path. The rocket propulsion system could also allow RAXA to move around in a limited manner if its legs ended up damaged. However, its rocket propulsion system was directly beneath its missile pods, meaning that any damage to the missile pods when opened would result in a significant amount of damage to its engines. Metal Gear ZEKE Metal Gear ZEKE was the first fully bipedal tank. It was designed by the Militaires Sans Frontières at the Mother Base by Huey Emmerich and Strangelove in 1974. It is equipped with a railgun, a radome, and a jetpack to increase mobility. Originally an unmanned weapon, Paz Ortega Andrade hijacked and modified it as manned weapon, and planned to launch a nuke at the United States's Eastern Coast if Big Boss (Naked Snake) didn't rejoin Cipher; however, it was heavily damaged in the ensuing fight. Strangelove noted afterward that it could at least regain the ability to walk, as she had made a backup copy of the AI, but whether it would be used again was up to Big Boss. Metal Gear Sahelanthropus In the 1980s, XOF stored and later deployed Metal Gear Sahelanthropus in Soviet territory. It had been developed by Huey Emmerich after his capture by the Soviets. It featured a head similar to that of Metal Gear REX, although with only one eye on each side as opposed to REX's three, a circular plate and legs similar to that of Metal Gear ZEKE. While normally taking on a hunched-over stance similar to REX, it also possessed the ability to stand completely upright and take on a disturbingly humanoid shape, being the only Metal Gear with fully functionally arms and hands. It was to be used as a marketing tool that would intimidate the world, forcing them to purchase nuclear weaponry from Skull Face, but its appearance was never made public. Unlike other Metal Gear, Sahelanthropus was piloted remotely by Skull Face and later Eli by using Tretij Rebenok's psychokinetic powers as a conduit, a very unique method of control. It was stolen from XOF by Diamond Dogs after its defeat and eventually was completely destroyed after being hijacked by Eli. Unlike past and to some extent future Metal Gears, Sahelanthropus lacked an onboard nuclear warhead, although it's uranium armor was capable of acting as a nuke in itself via Metallic Archaea. The Diamond Dogs when they recovered the weapon did plan on installing a nuke on it, however. TX-55 Metal Gear The TX-55 Metal Gear was the first globally documented bipedal tank designed at Outer Heaven by the Eastern scientist Drago Pettrovich Madnar in 1995. TX-55 proved Granin's vision to be a potent weapon — a mobile nuclear launch system that made stationary missile silos obsolete. It was used to threaten and blackmail the rest of the world, but never launched any nukes. In fact, this Metal Gear was never actually deployed, as it was destroyed by Solid Snake before its development could be completed. TX-55 Metal Gear utilized three sensors: a camera sight, a TV sight, and a lower sight.3 In addition, a sky alert radar was equipped onto its nuclear launch module, along with a rear alert pulse sensor. It was also equipped with both a polyphonic and monophonic antenna. TX-55's gun module houses two 15 mm machine guns and a 20 cm laser cannon. The cockpit itself is also heavily armored. Air nozzles are also equipped to the nuclear launcher. When firing a nuclear missile, TX-55 would extend a stabilizing leg from its rear and secure itself to the ground in order to conduct an accurate launch.4 It also possesses a large projector. Its overall armor is composed of 30-110 mm tungsten armor with a special heat-resistant ceramic, which was weakest on its legs. Metal Gear D Metal Gear D was a re-designed version of TX-55 (the TX-55 being a prototype for Metal Gear D2) that was very similar in appearance. It was also developed by Dr. Madnar within Zanzibar Land in 1999. This Metal Gear also featured additional weapons for close quarters combat. Metal Gear D's standard arsenal was comprised of a 60mm rotary cannon, a 5.56mm machinegun and a six-missile pod that could be armed with several different types of warhead.2While its main purpose was to serve as a mobile launch platform for short-to-medium range nuclear warheads, it could also function as a weapon of conventional warfare. It also carried a sensor system that consisted of the main camera, laser sights, an image sensor, and an infrared sensor. Metal Gear G Metal Gear G, or Gustav, was to be a small-scale, mass-produced version of D, (without nuclear capability) designed to assist infantry in local combat areas. It was in development around 1999, but was never produced due to Zanzibar Land's collapse shortly thereafter. Based on the design of Metal Gear D by Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, Gustav was to undergo development within Zanzibar Land. The nuclear launch module was removed from the design to reduce its overall weight and increase its mobility. Whereas Metal Gear D was heavily armed, Gustav would function more as a "mobile control tower," processing all the battlefield data it received, then transmitting the analyzed information in real-time to all soldiers in the troop. It would also enable all soldiers to focus on a single target using its advanced sensors. One was to be available for each infantry troop, each being piloted by either a communications officer, a data processing specialist or a commander. While its main purpose was to assist infantry, it was also equipped with weapons that rival the power of most MBT armored vehicles. Other weapons could also be mounted, depending on the situation. Had it been successfully deployed, it could have been a more economic alternative to conventional war machines. Metal Gear REX Metal Gear REX was a Metal Gear developed for the United States Army. It was developed by Dr. Hal Emmerich, in a joint venture between ArmsTech and DARPA, at the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in 2005. It was considered to be a revolutionary weapon - unlike all previous iterations of Metal Gear, not only could REX deliver a nuclear weapon both to and from any point on the globe, it was undetectable and untraceable. All previous Metal Gears were merely mobile ground-based launch systems for nuclear missiles, little more than the land-based equivalent of ballistic missile submarines. REX utilized a railgun, which fired much smaller projectiles without chemical propellants - factors which made them virtually invisible to radar. It thus completely negated the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction - whoever controlled it could launch a nuclear attack at any target at any time without fear of reprisal. Additionally, unlike all the previous Metal Gears, REX's legs were heavily armoured rendering grenades useless. Metal Gear RAY Metal Gear RAY was a Metal Gear originally developed for the United States Marine Corps. It is, however, a Metal Gear by Granin's initial definition - although RAY is a bipedal weapon, it lacks any form of nuclear armament. Nevertheless, it was originally created under the premise of nuclear strategy. In addition, it did serve as part of a true Metal Gear's "conventional" armament - Arsenal Gear. RAY was designed and developed by the Pentagon and the Marines in 2007 as a countermeasure to the abundance of Metal Gear REX derivatives being developed due to REX's plans being leaked onto the black market after 2005. For this reason, it was, until the creation of the Gekko, the only Metal Gear designed for close-range battle. RAY is notable for being the first attempt at Metal Gear mass-production. The Patriots (via the U.S. Navy) produced twenty-five mass-produced Metal Gear RAY units to serve as guards for Arsenal Gear in 2009. They differed from the original RAY in that they were unmanned (the original intention of the Marine Corps), had no tail and were slightly smaller. Arsenal Gear Arsenal Gear was a massive Metal Gear developed for the U.S. Navy. It was considered to be an evolutionary step ahead of all previous Metal Gears, functioning as a submersible warship instead of a bipedal tank. While capable of the same covert long-range nuclear attacks that define Metal Gears, this was merely a layer of its numerous defenses. Its true threat lay in its ability to conduct information warfare through the use of its onboard artificial intelligence (GW) in 2009. Metal Gear Mk. II and Mk. III The Metal Gear Mk. II (later superseded by the Metal Gear Mk. III) was a robotic companion with a blue exterior. The Mk. II served as a recon device but could also shock enemies (knocking them unconscious) and was equipped with Stealth camouflage in 2014. The Mk. III replaced the Mk. II, following the Mk. II's destruction. The Mk. III served exactly the same purpose and functioned exactly the same way, the only difference being its red exterior. Although it was not actually a Metal Gear, the Mk. II was named as such by Otacon so that he "would never forget that he was the one who built Gear REX." The Metal Gear Mk. II is a remote mobile terminal designed to support personnel on the battlefield. As such, it can carry out various functions, including reconnaissance, weapons and item transport, and assessment of soldiers' physical conditions. A prehensile manipulator arm allows it to grasp objects, emit an electrical shock to stun enemies, and access computer ports for data transfer. The Mk. II is also equipped with stealth camouflage technology, since its small size made implementation economical, and it was unaffected by harmful EM radiation. However, it could still be detected by thermal imaging technology. Its successor model, the Metal Gear Mk. III, was functionally identical, though it sported a reddish brown color scheme rather than the Mk. II's cobalt blue, and also included a Geiger counter for detecting radiation, due in part to it being created shortly before Snake's revisit to Shadow Moses Island. Outer Haven Outer Haven was a modified Arsenal Gear model that Liquid Ocelot stole from the Patriots in 2014 and hid at Shadow Moses Island. Outer Haven housed a repaired GW, which was recovered from Arsenal Gear. Outer Haven was armed with missile launchers and later equipped it with Metal Gear REX's rail gun. As well as utilizing OctoCamo, Outer Haven had a large supply of Gekko units and Haven Troopers patrolling its insides. Also, just like Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven had its own force of mass-produced Metal Gear RAY units, which were used to attack the USS Missouri in 2014. Outer Haven's OctoCamo clad hull also featured the faces of the four Snakes (Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Old Snake, and Solidus Snake) in a Mount Rushmore-like style during the time of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection. Metal Gear EXCELSUS When SOP and the Patriots fell following Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, PMCs acted on the development of cyborg technology as the information had been previously suppressed. The result was an abundance of cyborgs in the armies of PMCs. Due to the advantage of cyborgs capable of making decisions like other humans, the small unmanned gears such as the Gekko units were generating less favor in regards to urban combat. In response, AT Corp did a 180-degree turn and returned to develop a larger Unmanned Gear (UG) capable of overpowering cyborgs and tearing a path through urban terrain using its sheer size and power. The result was a new Metal Gear codenamed "Excelsus". The vehicle was not armed with a nuclear weapon, instead being designed for the purpose of asymmetrical warfare in light of cyborg development. Although initially designed to be a UG, the final design required a pilot. Due to the term being redefined to mean a mech that far outclasses UG-walkers in size with nuclear deterrence becoming obsolete, it was also given the name "Metal Gear" despite lacking nuclear armaments. Metal Gear Analogues Battle Gear Battle Gear was a large levitating tank-like weapon created by Huey Emmerich to get on the good side of Diamond Dogs. Realizing that nuclear weaponry was taboo because of the incident with ZEKE years ago, Huey could not arm it with such equipment and was forced to make it a "spin-off" Metal Gear. It possessed its own rudimentary AI that would allow to to go out into battle alongside Diamond Dogs soldiers, but it was mostly meant to be used as a simple non-nuclear deterrent. This idea of deterrence was carried over to the TX-55 Metal Gear as part of Outer Heaven ten years later, albeit with nuclear armament. Battle Gear did away with the entire idea of bipedalism in favor of magnetic levitation, giving it mobility over almost any surface just as legs would have. It was very loosely based on Metal Gear, only really hearkening back to it as part of its namesake. Gekko Gekko were the second attempt at mass-producing Metal Gear models, and the most successful. Given the codename IRVING by the U.S. military, this model was designed for short-range combat, and Gekkos were rapidly replacing tanks by 2014. They were equipped with assault weaponry, a near sentient A.I. system and near impregnable armour on the body. Their powerful legs were inspired by both REX and RAY, built with artificial, self-repairing muscle tissue, making it more agile than previous Metal Gear variants. Their heads resemble REX's, and the rest of their appearance resembles a smaller ZEKE. Although not technically Metal Gears due to their lack of nuclear launching capability, the Gekko more than fulfil Granin's vision of bipedalism, indeed overcoming the limitations faced by both infantry and artillery.